Local advice from friends helped 1UP editor Jose Otero finish one of his all-time favorite games.

Although I probably shouldn't have liked it as much, at the age of 9-years old Castlevania II: Simon's Quest set my world on fire. The atmosphere. The music. I loved everything about it. But it's hard to look back so many years later and try to remember the specifics behind this obsession. I suspect a lot of my adoration stemmed from how much Simon's Quest resembled Metroid -- one of my other favorite games at the time.

Castlevania and Metroid let me explore hostile settings and focused on progression through finding new abilities, but the tone and presentation of the two were very wildly different. One allowed me to play as a badass bounty hunter in space, the other a vampire hunter knee deep in creepy enemies and cursed by the Lord of Darkness himself.

Though both games focused on exploration, Simon's Quest felt much more challenging by comparison because of its vague structure. Metroid evoked a similar feeling, but I could understand what I needed to do because of the gameplay. If I couldn't reach a platform or make a jump across a wide area, I knew I needed to find a power up to help me overcome the obstacle.

In Castlevania II, I couldn't always tell what the game wanted from me. The NPCs offered little to no help, and the conflicting advice made turning to friends the only way to sort fact from fiction. Remember, this was '80s -- a time when getting tips and trick about video games meant you had to pay for cheats from overpriced hotlines, or take a daily stroll to the magazine stand. Thankfully I went to school with plenty of other kids who liked video games, and we'd all trade stories at lunch about games from the night before. But Castlevania was an acquired taste among my gaming friends. Only one of them shared the same deep obsession I had with the game.

As more time passed, I started to realize I would never finish the game on my own. But before I gave up, my good friend at school gave me a welcome shortcut: a special password he found in a magazine. With it, I could start the game with every item and go straight to the final fight with Dracula. I could't believe it at the time, but this string of digits could finally get me to the end of the game.

I rushed home, finished my homework, turned on my NES, and made Dracula meet his maker within 30 minutes or so. I had achieved the game's worst ending, but it didn't matter to me. With the help of my good friend, I reached the end of the game and accomplished something that felt impossible. We celebrated my victory the next day over chocolate milke. I would have never finished Simon's Quest if not for the help of a friend. Back in the day, before smartphones turned internet access into an everyday accessory, these kind of social sessions at school or the local playground were the only way to share information and accomplish the impossible.

Comments (3)

I remember those days...

It was awesome when a friend revealed some ground-shaking news that almost seemed to good to be true... This wasn't the case with EGM and friends telling me they actually played against Sheng Long in Street Fighter II... I actually got all perfects one day (I've never played so good in my life) only to find that it was in fact a hoax...

Thank you internet for debunking things in a timely fashion lol!

P.S - I also loved Castlevania 2 and would LOVE a remake in the vein of Metroid: Zero Mission!

took me years....

to be this game. First, I used that password that gave you everything. Then I tried to beat it on my own. After several attempts, I finally beat it (but got the worst ending.) It was and still is a good game and yeah, it did remind of Metroid.